1968–69 Miami Floridians season

August 2023 Miami Floridians ABA 1969 43 35 Eastern 2nd Jim Pollard Miami Beach Convention CenterConvention Center Annex Lost in the Eastern Division Finals WOCN Minnesota Muskies The 1968–69 Miami Floridians season was the first season of the Floridians franchise in the American Basketball Association and second overall season of existence. The team had moved from the state of Minnesota after one season played as the Minnesota Muskies. One aspect for the Miami Floridians struggling to acquire a good fanbase related to them trading away their star player, Mel Daniels, to the Indiana Pacers back when they were still going by the Muskies in the 1968 ABA draft. Despite them trading away their star player to Indiana, the Miami Floridians finished one game behind the Pacers, for a second-place finish. In the 1969 ABA Playoffs, they faced the replacement for them in the state of Minnesota, the defending champion Pipers. They beat them in a close 7-game series to set up a chance to go to the ABA Finals. However, in the Eastern Division Finals, they lost to the Indiana Pacers 4 games to 1. Roster Miami Floridians 1968–69 #E35205 #FFFFFF #1777CD #FFFFFF 23 Andrew Anderson basketball SG 6 2 184 July 6, 1945 Canisius 20 Donnie Freeman basketball, born 1944 SG 6 3 185 July 18, 1944 Illinois 41 Les Hunter basketball PF 6 7 210 August 16, 1942 Loyola Chicago 24 Ervin Inniger SG 6 4 190 January 16, 1945 Indiana 21 Willie Iverson PG 6 0 180 October 8, 1945 Central Michigan University 23 Nick Jones basketball G 6 2 190 March 28, 1945 Oregon 42 Gary Keller basketball C 6 9 220 June 13, 1944 Florida 22 Maurice McHartley PG 6 3 185 August 1, 1942 North Carolina A&T 44 Willie Murrell SF 6 6 225 September 13, 1941 Kansas State 22 Ron Perry basketball, born 1943 PG 6 3 190 December 29, 1943 Virginia Tech 33 Don Sidle PF 6 8 215 June 21, 1946 Oklahoma 32 Dan Sparks PF 6 8 200 April 17, 1945 Weber State 43 Skip Thoren C 6 10 230 April 5, 1943 Illinois 34 Dallas Thornton SF 6 4 190 September 1, 1946 Kentucky Wesleyan College Jim Pollard https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/MMF/1969.html Final standings Eastern Division + Team W L PCT. GB Indiana Pacers 4434.564 - Miami Floridians 4335.551 1 Kentucky Colonels 4236.5382 Minnesota Pipers 3642.462 8 New York Nets 1761.218 27 ABA Playoffs ABA Eastern Division Semifinals vs. Minnesota Pipershttp://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1969Playoffs.html 1968-69 ABA Regular Season Standings Remembertheaba.com 2016-07-11 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20071017202704/http://remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1969Playoffs.html 2007-10-17 Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 7 Miami 119–110 1–0 4,103 2 April 9 West Palm Beach1969 ABA Eastern Division Semifinals Game 2: Pipers vs Floridians, April 9, 1969 https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/196904090MMF.html Basketball-Reference.com en 99–106 1–1 1,688 3 April 10 Minnesota 93–109 1–2 1,520 4 April 12 Minnesota 116–109 2–2 2,532 5 April 13 Miami 122–107 3–2 4,206 6 April 15 Minnesota 100–105 3–3 1,345 7 April 19 Miami 137–128 4–3 5,702 Floridians win series, 4–3 ABA Eastern Division Finals vs Indiana Pacers Game Date Location Result Record Attendance 1 April 20 Indiana 110–126 0–1 8,721 2 April 22 Indiana 116–131 0–2 7,243 3 April 23 Miami 105–119 0–3 2,112 4 April 25 Miami 114–110 1–3 2,846 4 April 26 Indiana 105–127 1–4 3,528 Floridians lose series, 4–1 Awards and honors 1969 ABA All-Star Game selections (game played on January 28, 1969) Donnie Freeman Les Hunter Skip Thoren References 2 Floridians on Basketball Reference External links RememberTheABA.com 1968-69 regular season and playoff results Miami Floridians page Category:Miami Floridians seasons Miami Miami Floridians, 1968-69 Miami Floridians, 1968-69